OSU football notebook: Florida receiver commits to Buckeyes

Receiver James Louis of Delray Beach, Fla., turned some heads yesterday when he turned his back on his in-state schools and committed to Ohio State's 2010 recruiting class.

Receiver James Louis of Delray Beach, Fla., turned some heads yesterday when he turned his back on his in-state schools and committed to Ohio State's 2010 recruiting class.

Louis, 5 feet 11 and 185 pounds from Atlantic High School, had offers from Florida and Florida State, as well as from Alabama, Georgia and LSU, among others.

"I didn't really want to stay in state," Louis said. "Ohio State has been the No. 1 team on my list for the past couple of months, so I just felt like today was the day for me to go public with it."

One reason the Buckeyes piqued his interest was their success in producing NFL receivers under assistant head coach Darrell Hazell.

"They've had a bunch of great receivers come out of Ohio State, like Santonio Holmes, Ted Ginn, Anthony Gonzalez," Louis said. "They've been coached by coach Hazell, who not only seems to be a very good coach, but a very cool guy. So I am looking forward to being a Buckeye."

Bill Kurelic, a recruiting analyst for Bucknuts and ESPN.com, was surprised by how early Louis committed.

"Without question he is one of the top wide receiver prospects from the South, and there were many who thought he'd eventually end up at Florida," Kurelic said.

Louis, the 10th member of the 2010 class, might be the only receiver in it. The Buckeyes are expected to have 16-18 commitments by signing day in February.

Florida connection

Ohio State already has one receiver from Florida on its roster, incoming freshman Duron Carter of Fort Lauderdale, and coach Jim Tressel is hearing favorable reviews about him.

Tressel is not allowed to oversee conditioning or drills with teammates during the summer, but he has heard reports from Gonzalez and outgoing cornerback Malcolm Jenkins.

"They told me one that they were very impressed with was Duron Carter and his route-running ability," Tressel said.

He and the coaches will start making their assessments Aug. 9, when preseason camp opens.

Carter is the son of former Ohio State and NFL receiver Cris Carter.

Polling the BCS

The American Football Coaches Association recently backed off a request to make the final regularseason ballots secret in its poll, a component of the Bowl Championship Series ratings.

The issue will be revisited next year, but Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said he prefers the ballots remain open.

Delany, one of the major figures in the BCS, said he's glad there has been stability in the ratings formula, which determines the teams that will play for the national title.

"We tweaked it so much in the first six or seven years, we really needed to stop tweaking, we really did, because we were trying each year to address the problems we saw in the previous year," Delany said. "So we never really settled into a format."

Now, the results of the two human polls - the coaches and the Harris Interactive poll of former players, coaches, administrators and media - make up two-thirds of the formula, with an average of six computer rankings providing the final third.

That's a good mix, Delany said, because fans "may not like the polls, but they seem to like the computers less."

tmay@dispatch.com

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